Groundhog Day

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia.

Every February 2^nd, the scourge of  all farmers, the lowly groundhog,  becomes the center of attention for a day.

While beneficial to other wildlife who use abandoned groundhog holes for their burrows, the groundhog can wreak havoc with grain crops and can damage equipment that falls into their tunnels.

In the wild, groundhogs live only a couple of years. But in zoos, they can live as long as 10 years. They are usually 16-27 inches long and can weigh between 4 pounds in the spring, after hibernating all winter, to 14 pounds right before winter arrives. They are known by different names in various locations, including woodchucks, groundpig, whistlepig, and land beaver.

Out west, where groundhogs are not native, marmots are substituted. Both are part of the same genus and are basically "cousins".  

Yellow bellied marmot.
Photo from Wikipedia by Jean Gagnon

But on the second day of February, all that is forgotten as people throughout North America wait to see if the groundhog will see his shadow.

Why?

Legend has it that if the groundhog sees its shadow, there are six more weeks of winter. But if it is too cloudy for shadows, then spring is just around the corner. Punxsutawney Phil, the most famous of the groundhog prognosticators (remember the movie Groundhog Day?), is right only 50% of the time. 

Whether you believe the hype or not, you have to wonder just how this folk tale came about.

Imbolc Celebration in Marsden, West Yorkshire
February 2007
Photo by Steve Earnshaw

February 2^nd is midway between the winter solstice and spring equinox– December 21 and March 21. It has been celebrated for centuries, first as Imbolc by the Gaelic peoples. Imbolc marked the beginning of spring and during Imbolc, weather divination was practiced. If the weather was bright and sunny, better gather more firewood because the winter is going to be long!

Imbolc transitioned into Candlemas, a Christian feast day, and early Christians believed that a sunny Candlemas day meant another 40 days of winter. 

Poughkeepsie Journal February 9, 1831, page 3

German Christians took it a step further and said only if it was sunny enough that small animals could see their shadows, would there be six more weeks of winter. German immigrants brought this tradition with them when they immigrated to Pennsylvania in the 18^th and 19^th centuries. They adopted the groundhog as their “small animal” of choice.

The first printed mention of the "groundhog as weather predictor" appeared in James Morris' diary for February 4, 1841. The Morgantown, Pennsylvania storekeeper wrote:

"Last Tuesday, the 2nd was Candlemas day, the day on which, according to the Germans, the Groundhog peeps out of his winter quarters and if he sees his shadow he pops back for another six weeks nap, but if the day be cloudy he remains out, as the weather is to be moderate." - Pennsylvania Dutch Folklore Center at Franklin and Marshall College.

Wikimedia Commons

The first official Groundhog Day celebration took place on February 2 1886 in Punxsutawney Pennsylvania when a newspaper editor encouraged a local hunting club to create the festival.  Punxsutawney Phil became a fixture of the festival. 

Lebanon Courier and Semi Weekly Report  (Pennsylvania)
February 13, 1852

But you can find mentions of Groundhog Day in newspapers 30 years before that first official celebration.

This article appeared originally in the Johnstown Mountain Echo in Pennsylvania in 1852.

And just a few years later in another Pennsylvania newspaper:

Lewistown Gazette
February 4, 1858, page 2. 

 

Twenty years later, articles started appearing in the Medina Gazette:

Medina County Gazette
 February 28th, 1873, page 3
Who was "C." - Could not discover

Medina County Gazette
February 13th, 1874, page 3
This correspondent must have been a farmer

Medina County Gazette
December 24th, 1886 Page 2

 

Medina County Gazette
September 6th, 1907 Page 1

And in 1907,  W.P. Root (no relation to A.I. Root), wrote a series of articles that compared the "predictions" of the groundhog and the weather in the following 6 weeks. This was his conclusion:

In other locations, the forecasting groundhog/marmot goes by different names:

• Balzac Billy of Alberta, Canada is a man-sized costumed mascot.
• Buckeye Chuck of  Marion, OH is Ohio's official groundhog.
• Dover Doug of Dover, PA is also a costumed mascot. He has his own Linkedin account.
• Flatiron Freddy of Boulder, Colorado was a yellow belly marmot. His proponents claim a 90% accuracy rate.
• Fred la Marmotte from Quebec, Canada 
• General Beauregard Lee of Georgia for all of the southern US
• Poor Richard of York PA  
• Punxsutawney Phil of Gobbler's Knob, PA, celebrating since 1886 but he wasn’t named until 1961.
• Shubenacadie Sam from Nova Scotia, Canada 
• Staten Island Chuck, aka Charles G. Hogg, at the Staten Island Zoo, NY
• Stormy Marmot – Aurora, Colorado – Claims to be the most accurate weather forecaster
• Wiarton Willie from Ontario, Canada

Despite being famous and pampered, being a local weather guru is not an easy life for the animals:

• They are taken out of its natural habitat and have to be hand reared, if they are to be handled at all.
• Two of the animals are taxidermized: Flatiron Freddy was a marmot. The same is true for Poor Richard who makes his forecasts from heaven
• Staten Island Chuck bit Mayor Michael Bloomberg in 2009. In 2014, Mayor Bill de Blasio dropped the animal and it died of internal injuries a week later.

However you feel about groundhogs, woodchucks, marmots, or whistlepigs, they don't deserve that kind of treatment!

This is what I will be doing on February 2nd - watching the movie Groundhog Day!

AndieMacDowell holding a groundhog during a promotional tour in 2008
From Wikicommons 

Interested in history themed events in Medina County? Check out the new Medina County History Events Calendar HERE.

February 2nd Update - No shadows for our prognosticators! SPRING IS AROUND THE CORNER! 

That's good news for those of us facing ice storms today...

Sources:

Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Groundhog Day". Encyclopedia Britannica, 2 Dec. 2021, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Groundhog-Day.  Accessed 14 January 2022.

Earshaw, Steven, “Imbolc”Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5857970 , accessed 14 January 2022.

Eldridge, Alison. "What's the Difference Between a Solstice and an Equinox?". Encyclopedia Britannica, Invalid Date, https://www.britannica.com/story/whats-the-difference-between-a-solstice-and-an-equinox . Accessed 20 January 2022.

Fenton, Stephanie, “Candlemas, Groundhog Day, Imbolc,: From Phil to Snowdrops”, Religious Holidays & Festivals, https://readthespirit.com/religious-holidays-festivals/tag/groundhog-day/ , accessed 14 January 2022.

 “Groundhog Day”, Stormfax Weather Almanac,  https://www.stormfax.com/ghogday.htm , accessed 14 January 2022.

“Groundhog Day 2022”, Almanac, https://www.almanac.com/groundhog-day , accessed 6 January 2022.

History.com Editors, “First Groundhog Day”, History, https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/first-groundhog-day , January 20, 2022.

 History.com Editors, “Groundhog Day: History and Facts”, History, https://www.history.com/news/groundhog-day-history-and-facts , accessed 6 January 2022.

History.com Editors, “Imbolc”, History, https://www.history.com/topics/holidays/imbolc , accessed January 20, 2022.

 “Nuisance Species:, Ohio Department of Natural Resources, https://ohiodnr.gov/wps/portal/gov/odnr/discover-and-learn/safety-conservation/wildlife-management/nuisance-wildlife/nuisance-groundhogs , accessed 14 January 2022.

Wikipedia contributors.  Groundhog. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.  https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Groundhog&oldid=1063817373 , accessed 20 January 2022.

Wikipedia contributors. "Imbolc." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imbolc 20 Jan. 2022.

 

NEWSPAPERS:

Poughkeepsie Journal February 9, 1831, page 3.

Lebanon Courier and Semi Weekly Report  (Pennsylvania) February 13, 1852

Lewistown Gazette February 4, 1858, page 2. 

Medina County Gazette February 28th, 1873, page 3.

Medina County Gazette February 13th, 1874, page 3.

Medina County Gazette December 24th, 1886 Page 2.

Medina County Gazette September 6th, 1907 Page 1.